DCU researchers lead bowel cancer breakthrough
DCU researchers lead bowel cancer breakthrough
Researchers from the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at Dublin City University have made two related discoveries that could save thousands of lives by identifying early signs of bowel cancer – the second most common cause of cancer death in Ireland.
The first advance, pioneered by Dr Gregor Kijanka at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) and former Irish Cancer Society Research Fellow, is the discovery of biomarkers that are linked to poor survival in bowel cancer patients. A deeper investigation of the biomarkers helped to uncover a new pathway that bowel cancer cells use to stay alive in the body.
The second advance is the development of a potential blood test to diagnose bowel cancer. It works by detecting antibody biomarkers in the blood which are produced when the human body reacts to the presence of the disease.
The test is more sensitive and accurate than the current method used to identify bowel cancer, known as FOBT, which involves testing traces of blood in patients’ stool samples. Instead, by identifying the cancer at the earliest possible stage, the new test considerably increases the chances of successfully treating it. It also removes the need for people, who are at risk but not infected, to undergo a colonoscopy.
“Survival rates from bowel cancer are closely associated with the stage at diagnosis. More than half of people with bowel cancer are diagnosed in the later stages, requiring more complex treatment, with a poorer chance of survival,” said Professor Richard O’Kennedy, scientific director of BDI.
Each year, close to 2,500 men and women in Ireland are diagnosed with the disease, and around 1,000 people die from it. The new blood test will do away with the need for FOBT and will prevent unnecessary and costly colonoscopies for people without the disease.
BDI researchers collaborated with the Donegal-based biotech company Randox to produce the test. Costing just €25, the non-invasive blood test could be available for widespread use by the end of 2016.
The new test will be implemented on Randox’s proprietary Biochip Array Technology detection platform. Dr Peter FitzGerald, the managing director of Randox, said the potential for the test was “revolutionary”. He said later-stage bowel cancer treatment can cost more than €45,000 per patient, compared to stage 1 treatment costs of less than half that amount. “If we can catch this cancer early and treat it early, then the economic benefit will be considerable,” he said.